Many existing digital video recorders (DVRs) display a first program data screen in response to a user-initiated selection of a recorded program from a list of recorded programs. The first program data screen displays metadata information about the program, e.g. a title and a description of the program. The first program data screen also displays controls for various functions of the DVR. The controls include a start control to start playback of the recorded program or a continue control to continue playback of a stopped or paused program, a delete control to delete the recorded program from the DVR, and a protect control to protect the recorded program from being overwritten or deleted.
After the recorded program has been played to its end, a second program data screen is outputted by the DVR. The second program data screen is similar to the first program data screen but may include one or more additional or alternative controls such as a start-over control to restart playback of the recorded program from its beginning.
Currently-marketed DVRs require users to select either the start control, the continue control or the start-over control to initiate playback from a program data screen. Thereafter, the users can select a fast-forward control and/or a rewind control to navigate within the recorded program. Other navigation controls provided during playback may include a 30-second skip button, a 15-second skip back button and a commercial-skip button.
In some cases, users may be interested in fast forwarding to the last few minutes of a recorded program. Many commercial DVRs fast forward at a high speed such as 300×. The high speed of the fast forward control makes stopping a few minutes from the end of the recorded program difficult for users. If the user does not stop the fast forwarding in time, the DVR reaches the end of the recorded program and outputs the second program data screen.